Energy

The Greens believe that electricity should be affordable and generated from renewable sources. Tasmania can lead Australia in transitioning to an economy fuelled by 100% renewable energy, with energy efficient homes, buildings and industries while maintaining affordable power prices for household consumers. Providing clean and affordable electricity will advance Tasmania’s economic wellbeing, energy security and competitive carbon advantage in a low-carbon economy.

Keeping electricity clean and affordable will enable Tasmania to take a leading role in the application of emerging green energy technologies and attract clean industries, which will further reduce our carbon footprint while growing sustainable jobs.

Energy security is critical for the Tasmanian economy and we need to develop a generation mix that removes the reliance on importing carbon-intensive electricity from the mainland and petroleum from overseas.

The Tasmanian Greens support the establishment of a Smart Network for Tasmania to manage peak demand pressures, ensure the efficient use of energy and encourage the uptake of small to medium renewable generation.

We strongly support retaining Hydro Tasmania’s electricity generating assets in public hands and believe that Hydro Tasmania should cease their expansionist strategy as it poses a potential financial risk to the Tasmanian taxpayer.

Energy produced from nuclear fuel, biomass from native forest, and fracking is rejected by the Tasmanian Greens.

Measures

Governance

The Tasmanian Greens will work towards:

establishing an independent advisory panel with appropriate representation from a range of relevant stakeholders to consult widely on feed-in-tariff / distributed generation incentives;

establishment of fair feed-in tariffs for producers of electricity made using benign renewable fuels;

transitioning to 100% renewable energy as soon as possible or by the latest 2020;

ensuring transparency and accountability in the energy sector by requiring more detailed annual reports from government business enterprises;

minimising unnecessary financial risk to the Tasmanian taxpayer.

Energy Efficiency

The Tasmanian Greens will work towards:

continuing the roll out of energy efficiency upgrades to low income households in the public and private rental market;

providing no interest loans for low income households and small business to adopt energy conservation measures;

requiring bulk power users to implement energy efficiency programs as a prerequisite of contract renewal.

Power Bills

The Tasmanian Greens will work towards:

supporting lowest possible power-prices for domestic and small business customers;

restructuring electricity billing to provide cost-neutral and revenue-neutral incentives to use less power;

introducing further concessions and rebates on power costs for low income earners.

Transport

The Tasmanian Greens will work towards:

improving public transport systems to encourage decreased use of fossil fuelled vehicles;